The wizard Sienne hopes to make a name for herself as a scrapper—someone who scours the ruins of the Empty Lands for treasure and lost magical artifacts. But first she must find someone willing to take a chance on a desperate beginner.When Sienne finally catches a break, she becomes part of a ragtag group of adventurers—a desperate scrapper named Dianthe, her wizard-hating partner Alaric, a drunk … Alaric, a drunk priest, and a young fighter.
But finding the treasure proves only the beginning. They must learn to work together as a team. Their very survival may depend on it.
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So you know how sometimes you just want a book that reminds you of fantasy you read in the 80s, only… not written in the 80s? And actually good? Or like that D&D campaign you had so much fun in and wish had been a novel? This book is that book. It’s got characters who fit neatly into classes (the main is a level 1 wizard–seriously, the book doesn’t use game mechanics but you can tell), like priest and thief and barbarian. But it’s got this really lovely world built around them to make those things sensible. It feels authentic in a way a lot of books trying to get that “we’re playing epic fantasy games” vibe fail at, while still serving up some good old fashioned ‘let’s excavate some ruins for treasure’ adventure, plus intrigue in the city. The plot moves along nicely, while serving up constant, wonderful little spurts of world-building… and it doesn’t hurt that the main character is clever, like “pat your hands together in glee” clever.
Bonus points, it’s got this great theme about “how can such disparate people come together in a party and stay a team?” which, I assure you, as both a GM and a player was often the most difficult part to wrangle. No one ever wanted to talk about why people happened to be adventuring together, but this book tackles it and makes it the theme, and then caps off the whole thing with a grand quest to tie the characters to one another… AFTER they’ve decided they want to stick together.
It really is delightful. If you’re looking for That Fantasy but well-written, come get this.
I loved this book. It had a nice adventure and great world building. I was sad when it ended and I’m looking forward to the next one.
I loved Melissa McShane’s Company of Strangers, the first book in a series of the sane name. Not just because it was a great fantasy novel with great writing and world-building abs superb cast of characters, though I’d have given it five stars on that basis alone. It also had something that appealed to me as a lifelong gamer even though this is 100% fantasy and not at all LitRPG.its just that the way that the magic system works, the spells available to Sienne as a trained but inexperienced wizard, the nature of the band of adventurers she ends up with and the world she’s adventuring in all had the feeling of what the best role-playing games should be. Wonderfully imaginative. But for the fact that I’m literally dictating this review to my husband from my hospital bed I could go on and on with praises. The book definitely deserves it. Since I can’t do that I will simply note that the book is most definitely one to read, and it is easy to highly recommend. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in this series.
Melissa McShane has done it again -another page turner about a young female wizard who, in desperation joins a cobbled -together group of strangers whose task is to risk nothing less than life and limb to retrieve an artifact from an ancient ruiin. Danger continues when they return to civilization, and gradually knits the group into a team. I was sorry when this adventure ended, but we are told that there are 6 books in this series and I can’t wait for the next one!
Company of Strangers is the newest fantasy release by Melissa McShane. I loved this magical tale. I loved the adventure and action. I never knew what was going to happen next with Sienne and her team.
Even though, I am not that huge of a fan of fantasy fiction, I was actually intrigued with Company of Strangers. I thought is was a great read and recommend it. I am giving it 5 stars.
I received this book from the author, but was not required to write a review. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.